When strange lights start appearing in the sky and cattle are found mutilated, Sean and his brother Trick set out to investigate. Sean has been plagued by a strange girl in his nightmares and they soon discover she is from the future and possesses the ability to jump through time and space. Sean and Trick are determined to protect her from those who seek to capture her - a mysterious organisation known as the Paradise Project who intend to destroy the source of her abilities. However a shock lies in store for Sean when he discovers the link between he and the strange girl lies deeper than his nightmares…
Author Justin Stanchfield is himself a Montana cowboy and he deftly evokes the eeriness of the isolated ranches and mountain plains of Antler. Stanchfield builds upon this atmospheric setting to layer in sci-fi elements - starting with clichéd crop circles and strange lights in the sky and moving to the more twisted concept of a boy haunted by a girl he sees in his nightmares. This storyline was one of the strongest elements of the book for its darkness and strangeness and is testament to Stanchfield's obvious imagination and ability as a sci-fi writer. He also possesses a real gift for crafting page-turning and heart-stopping action scenes which are almost filmic in their description, tension and action.
Unfortunately, just like the Paradise Project's attempt to capture and destroy the source of the strange girl's power, the book itself enjoys moments of brilliance but isn't an entirely successful endeavour. Whilst the plot enjoys a great many twists and turns which keeps the tension high and those pages turning, large chunks of the book are dedicated to heavy-handed exposition and back-story or making too explicit a character's motivation which has the effect of, at times, contrived plot development and characterisation. It would have been better for Stanchfield to have pulled the threads of his story throughout the whole book rather than dumping large sections of explanation in the midst of his story.
The author's depiction of difficult male relationships is effective in a largely masculine environment. This, however, only serves to highlight his shortcomings in painting female characters and male-female relationships. More than once a particular female character is likened to 'a baby rabbit', a phrase whose triteness is only striking due to it being so at odds with Stanchfield's largely good writing.
Timewalker achieves what it sets out to do: tell an exciting sci-fi adventure at rip-roaring pace with out-of-this-world encounters and a classic good guys versus bad guys storyline. It's a great story, told with imagination and skill. For this we can forgive my gripes.